CNN International; Netherlands, 2006:
I hadn't seen a TV in six weeks. My temporary apartment didn't have one. After renting a "permanent" furnished apartment, I was able to watch the news again. It had one English language news channel: CNN International.
About three weeks earlier, Hamas-led militants had tunneled into Israel from Gaza, killed two Israeli soldiers, and abducted a third, Corporal Gilad Shalit. Israel warned that if Shalit was not returned, it would launch a major military operation in Gaza.
Shalit wasn't returned. Israel attacked Gaza in an effort to insist Shalit be returned. CNN covered this story heavily. This is the story I saw:
CNN had a male host, possibly Jim Clancy. He had two separate interviews with representatives from either side, likely Mark Regev or Gideon Meir (Israel) and someone from the Hamas side.
The Israeli guest was given about 45 seconds to answer questions like, "Why is Israel so bloodthirsty that it would invade a foreign nation without provocation and try to kill everyone?"
The Hamas guest was given about 12 minutes to answer questions like, "How does it feel to be the completely innocent victims, again, of unprovoked Israeli military action?"
I had seen the episode earlier in the day and was so shocked by how unfair the coverage was, that when it came on again, I timed it. That was the last time I watched CNN.
I tried other news channels, but in the Netherlands, the ones I saw were all the same: 100% anti-Israel. What shocked me most is that none acknowledged that burrowing a tunnel into Israeli territory for the purpose of killing and abducting soldiers was a "provocation".
They completely ignored that part of the story. When it was mentioned at all, it was like this, "They are dropping bombs, killing civilians disproportionately. Does that seem proportionate when their soldier, Gilad Shalit, remains alive?"
The answer was invariably, "Indeed yes. We are taking good care of our prisoner. He is just one soldier, an enemy, and now we are bombed. We do not understand their thinking. This is not normal."
I was thinking, "Hand Shalit back to the Israelis and everything stops."
I was shocked by the coverage. I had thought CNN was slanted left in the United States, but in Europe, they seemingly had no checks on their desire to lean left. They weren't "leaning", they were there all the way. There was no semblance of fairness at all.
This persisted for as long as I lived in the Netherlands. Although I didn't watch TV news, I couldn't help but see occasional newspaper headlines, or avoid looking when a colleague would shove a video on their cell phone under my nose.
It is no wonder that so many Europeans hate America and President Trump in particular. If all I ever heard came from the sources I saw, I'd feel the same way.
This is why CNN should never be allowed to return to the White House.